


We're Just... Something

by budgewrites



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-22
Updated: 2015-03-22
Packaged: 2018-03-19 01:24:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3591117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/budgewrites/pseuds/budgewrites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kya catches wind of the emotions slowly growing between Korra and Asami and offers Korra a bit of personal advice to ease her confusion.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We're Just... Something

**Author's Note:**

> In the wake of Kya's confirmed (assuming that post was true) place on the list of lgbt+ characters in the Avatar 'verse, some folks on Tumblr were talking about a scenario where Kya talks to Korra about her budding feelings for Asami, so I typed this up this evening! Hope you like :) 
> 
> (The Nights will update soon, don't worry about that!)

Korra was back on her feet.

Nothing was magically fixed because she could walk, run, and bend again, but she was on her way. Regaining her mobility was the first step to getting better. Being bound to a chair and dependent on those around her had been emotionally crippling for Korra. Every second had been a miserable reminder of her weakness. She hadn't even been able to write her friends. The dozens of failed drafts scattered on her desk proved that. 

Until now.

It had been long enough. _Two years_ long enough. Korra's pen hovered over the paper as seconds ticked into minutes. The same old apprehensions threatened to trickle back, but she waved them off. It wasn't too late to write. Reason told her that _all_ of her friends would be more than happy to hear from her. But she didn't want to explain herself to _all_ of them. They wouldn't understand. How could they? Only one person felt _right._

_I want you to know that I'm here for you. If you ever want to talk, or... anything._

Korra finally started to write.

_Dear Asami,_

The words came easily, after that. She sat back when she was finished, reading it all to herself. It wasn't a happy letter. It wasn't even a _positive_ letter. She couldn't promise that she would be back soon, or say that she was all better now, but that was okay with Asami. That was why she was writing her in the first place, why she was asking her not to tell the guys. Their likely reaction to her only writing to Asami, especially Mako's, were the exact reason she couldn't write to them. But Asami _got_ it. Asami was there for her, had offered to travel south with her. She had only told Katara about the visions, so far, but it felt so much better to write it down, to know that Asami would read it and understand. Asami, who had sat awake with her through the worst nights, made sure she had company, kept her from wasting the days away but never overwhelmed her. She was subtly there, not feeding her the non-stop reminders that everything would be okay while Korra was off recovering and not constantly asking if Korra was 'all right.' 

Of everything, Korra found with each passing day that she missed Asami the most.

A knock at her door frame interrupted her thoughts. She'd forgotten that it was open.

"Senna wanted me to tell you- Dinner in about thirty, kiddo."

Korra sat up at attention.

"Thanks, Kya."

"I was just coming up to say good-bye." Kya wandered into Korra's room.

"Are you leaving the South?"

"For a little while," she shrugged a shoulder. Kya had been spending more of her time at the Southern Tribe in the past few years. Katara was still more than capable of living on her own, but Kya wasn't getting younger, and all those platitudes about appreciating family in the elder years were true. She casually leaned against Korra's desk, discretely taking note of Korra's fresh attempt at a letter. "Going up North to see an old friend. It's easier, now that the portals are open." She absently adjusted the engraved necklace she was always wearing, and Korra had a sudden thought. Was that necklace just for decoration?

"Kya... were you ever engaged?" It didn't dawn on Korra that it might be too personal a question until it was to late. She braced herself for an apology, but Kya's continued nonchalance made it clear that one wouldn't be necessary.

"In a way..." She trailed off for a moment, gazing almost wistfully out Korra's window. "I was never really the _stay at home_ type, until I settled here. She had a career in the North to worry about, so it wasn't destined to work out in any conventional way."

Korra's attention was suddenly caught closer. _She?_

"That was before the Water Tribes were on the grid, so keeping in touch was tricky. I wrote her all the time, but I was never in one place long enough for her to write me back."

Korra's eyes darted briefly to the finished letter. Kya didn't miss the glance.

"So she made me this." Kya indicated the necklace that had started the conversation. "And told me the door was always open, whenever I wanted to stop by. When love is real, it finds a way. No matter how long it's been."

The room fell silent, and Korra tried to look anywhere but at Kya. Or the letter. She couldn't help but wonder if she was being addressed more directly than she initially thought.

"Asami stays at Air Temple Island, sometimes," Kya continued. There was a small lurch in Korra's chest. "She asked me about you, last time I was up there. First words out of her mouth." The lurch turned into a swollen feeling. Was Kya jumping to a conclusion?

"We're just..." _friends._ But the last word caught on the tip of Korra's tongue. It didn't feel right. Bolin was her friend. Mako was her friend. Asami was... a confidante. Asami stayed awake with her when she couldn't sleep, listened to her when her innermost fears showed their ugly heads, squeezed her hand when facing the day felt like too much. 

Only no. She _had_ done all those things. Two years ago. Now, Korra had given her nothing but radio silence.

"I haven't even _talked_ to her since..."

"And? You know her better than I do. You tell me if she's the kind of person to just give up on someone she cares about." Kya's tone made it obvious that the assumed answer was 'no.' Asami didn't have any family. It made Korra wonder if she had clung so hard to Team Avatar because they were the only people she really had.

"No," Korra finally said, staring down at the letter. "She's... one of the most loyal people I've ever met." And brilliant and compassionate and stunning and a whole host of other descriptors that Korra kept to herself with a tiny, soft smile. "She wrote to me two weeks ago." The letter was sitting with all of the others in her desk drawer. 

"See?" Kya gave Korra a playfully affectionate nudge on the shoulder. "A girl doesn't build you a park and a three-story statue unless she means business." Korra's little smile widened at the joke, and she looked down at her hands in mild embarrassment. Asami hadn't exactly phrased it like _that_ in her letters, only that they were renaming the central park in Korra's honor and she was in charge of the project.

"I never even thought of her that way. Or, I guess, I didn't _think_ I did. I never really stopped to consider it."

"Well, it's not like you had the _time_ to. Be patient. See how things go. The last thing you need to worry about is taking it too slow."

Korra took a deep breath and sighed. Kya wasn't wrong. She looked up to the older woman, curious and a bit uncertain.

"How did you...?"

"She's been into you for ages," Kya said almost too casually with another one of her loose shrugs. Korra blinked, taken aback. "It's easier to tell, when you've been there. Most people don't think twice when two women are close. They can hold hands and share long hugs and sleep in the same bed before people realize they have feelings for each other." 

It had never dawned on Korra to look at it that way, but Kya was right. Maybe Korra didn't share or even understand the inherent mentality, but looking back, she had no doubt that more people would have questioned the nature of their relationship if Asami had been Bolin or Mako. 

"What if I'm wrong?" Korra asked quietly, staring once again down at her letter. "What if it's not... like that? What if I say something and things get awkward?"

"She still loves you, even if it's not 'like that.' I try to stay out of your romantic messes, but if I remember correctly, awkward feelings haven't exactly come between you two in the past."

Korra laughed nervously, remembering their conversation in the car when Korra had been learning how to drive. No, the mess with Mako had never come between them, and they had both been glad for the effortless comfort between them. She felt a tiny bubble of confidence, then, growing bigger every second. Korra reached into her desk for an envelope and sealed her letter to Asami. In the spur of the moment, she made her choice.

"I need to go back. Sooner rather than later."

"That sounds like a great idea."

Another moment of silence.

"Thank you, Kya."

"You're always welcome, Korra."


End file.
